• Question: do you think your work could save lives?

    Asked by jeweygob to Jo, Gioia, Iain, Leo, Mariam on 24 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by jenna8, hannahandkatiexxx, sophieoconnor, emilyy, chocolatebunnies, bffjex.
    • Photo: Joanna Watson

      Joanna Watson answered on 14 Jun 2010:


      I definitely hope so! I hope that all of the work that I do will make a little contribution towards saving lives.

      There is one project that I worked on a couple of years ago where I was part of a team of scientists (probably over 100 of us altogether) writing guidelines for the best ways to run bowel cancer screening programmes. These guidelines will be used in countries all over Europe and will help to save lots of lives. I only did a little bit of the work on the project, but I think that all of the scientists involved can be really proud about it.

    • Photo: Mariam Orme

      Mariam Orme answered on 20 Jun 2010:


      Yes, potentially it could. The work I’m doing now, trying to understand how cells die and how cancer cells avoid dying, could allow us to develop new drugs to target cancer cells, and that could save lives.

    • Photo: Leo Garcia

      Leo Garcia answered on 21 Jun 2010:


      Not yet – but eventually I hope to refine what I have begun to understand. Even if I improve just one person’s life, that is still a great achievement.

    • Photo: Gioia Cherubini

      Gioia Cherubini answered on 21 Jun 2010:


      On a very long scale, possibly, because I’m working on a new treatment for pancreatic cancer. However, it will take so long, that I can only start the research on it and then leave it to others for the successive steps (clinical trials…)

    • Photo: Iain Moal

      Iain Moal answered on 24 Jun 2010:


      At the moment, it isn’t ready to be used for anything clinical. However, I hope that one day I will be able to use my work in order to improve the prospects of cancer patients.

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